Following the elimination of the Jedi Order and the formation of the Galactic Empire, there was a time of much unrest within the galaxy. While the Empire sought to consolidate it’s power base in the core of the galaxy, much strife was taking place on the periphery as worlds formed their own governments, warred with each other, and ultimately fell from power to become simple self governed worlds. The turmoil would ruin the civilisations of countless worlds before the Empire arrived and brought order to the chaos. But even after the Empire’s arrival, rogues such as pirates and smugglers, along with more unscrupulous businessmen possessed a great deal of power, warring with each other and raiding civilian and military transports alike…

That was the world in which Colden and Derech lived during their formative years, and for the most part, their lives were good. Their parents made enough money in their respective jobs to ensure a comfortable if not luxurious existence, both working as pilots for an in-system transport company, mainly flying some of the larger Corellian transport ships.

Pirate attacks had been common in their area of space, but the system government – having been allowed some degree of freedom to govern themselves by the galactic empire – had put in place an effective security force. This force, a small collection of second, third or fourth-hand corvettes backed by several ageing starfighter squadrons, provided cover for transports moving between the three settled worlds, and also met larger pirate groups head on, capturing their opponents when possible.

But as they do, all things change.

By protecting themselves so efficiently, the system had become quite wealthy. The wealth lured in a pirate group of much greater size…

Colden was 15 when they came, and Derech only 12. Neither of them had any real memories of what the chaos of an invasion would be like, and both their mother and father had been called up to pilot any ship possessing a weapon. When they had left for the spaceport, they had left Colden fighting down his fear that they might not return, putting up a brave front. Derech didn’t really understand what was going on, and was more excited about how his parents would fight off the invaders.

With a last hug for each of them, and with glistening moisture in their eyes, Colden’s mother whispered four words into his ear, “Look after your brother.”

When they left, Colden felt he would never see them again.

*-*-*-*-*

Six hours later, and the news broadcasts were telling of how the defence forces had been pushed back from their first engagement, taking heavy losses in the process. The reporters voice sounded scared as she listed the names of the vessels which were confirmed destroyed…

Their parent’s ship, the Azeman, wasn’t mentioned.

“Mum and Dad are still alive!!!” Derech cried in joy, having been on the brink of tears throughout the announcement, and Colden let out a sigh of relief.

This was just moments before the first explosion ripped through the nearby capital city, demolishing buildings which had survived the clone wars and countless years before.

On the holoscreen, the news reporter went into a very rapid announcement.

Pirate ships have just entered our atmosphere and have begun attacks on major cities! Our ships in orbit have been overcome! We recommend everyone evacuate their homes and head for the countryside. Repeat, evac……..

The holo program was suddenly interrupted and the screen filled with static.

“We’ve got to get out of here. Go upstairs and grab some clothes!” Colden told his brother in a hurry, as he himself began to run upstairs to his parents’ bedroom. On a cabinet there was a communicator, which he grabbed. Fumbling with the controls, he called out for his parents … but heard no reply.

*-*-*-*-*

However, onboard the Azeman, the little signal was heard … both Colden’s mother and father were busy on the bridge trying to keep their ship from being destroyed.

“We’ve got to get out of here!”

“They’re everywhere, I don’t think there’s anything we can do!”

“We’re getting a transmission from the planet … it’s Colden!”

“Let me hear it.”

Mum, Dad, we just got the order to evacuate!! Are you there?!? I’m going to try and get out of the city with Derech … I’m going to head for grandma’s. Are you hearing this?! Mum! Dad!

“Can we send a reply?” the mother asked.

“We lost local communications in that last hit, we’ve only got interstellar comms left.” Replied the father.

“Then we’ve got to get down there.” She said, pulling on the ships navigational controls, pulling the ship round to head for the planet surface.

“We’ve got three fighters incoming!”

“Hold them off!”

“I’m trying … They’ve launched missiles!”

A few seconds later, their ship was hit by three successive explosions as the missiles stripped through the already weakened shields, causing bad hull damage.

“I’ve lost all control.” The mother said in a resigned voice. “We’ve got to get to the escape pods.”

“The launching mechanism’s in pieces … there’s nothing we can do …” the father said as he collapsed onto the floor in shock.

The truth sank in hard, and the mother collapsed into the piloting couch as if every system in her body had simply shut down.

As the planet slowly became larger in the viewport, the mother began to weep, whispering in a barely audible voice to no one in particular, “My boys … be sensible … keep yourselves safe … I love you so much …”

The father closed his eyes, but quickly opened them again as something occurred to him. Standing up, he went over to the communications console, and called to his wife “We can still do something, we still have interstellar comms … I’m going to call Ryan.”

“I don’t want him looking after our children!”

“I know that, but he’s our only family left!”

“He’s a scoundrel!”

“THERE’S NO ONE ELSE!”

Sitting quietly for a moment, his wife sighed. “Alright. Tell him that he better not get them in trouble!”

Adjusting the settings quickly, the father brought up a message to be sent to his brother Ryan, wherever he was in the galaxy at the time. He told him as much as he could before they hit the atmosphere and the communication antenna was torn away from the ship. Within minutes there was one more explosion in the sky as the increasing temperatures sent their reactor into chaos.

ooc: a bit of a morbid start, but it's a start. I'm basically telling the history of some of my characters which first appeared in space patrol ... but with a different future than they had in SP ... Will also be linking in the Trobane history as well at some point. Basically this thread is closed, but feel free to tell me what you think in ooc posts, need all the input i can get seeing as it's been well over a year since i've written any form of fiction